Comments on: Tampa Bay Rowdies Ready for Season Opener

By: Bart

Bart — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:27:36 +0000

Ouch! Nestor needs to step up his administrative “game” and get the marketing efforts out. It does not sound as though he courted the local media well enough during the off season to generate the PR needed to get what we call the “curiousity crowd” to the game.

St. Petersburg just came off a high from last week’s “funk” night jam at the park, and there simply is no reason why the Vinoy was not filled with TB fans, waiting to party before, during and after the game.

You just don’t get ignored by the media. You have to earn it by being a non-newsworthy event. Surely the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this last Saturday evening was not an omen for the future of the Rowdies.

Of course, with the Titanic, the first class passengers had an 11 course meal of every gastronomical delight before the iceberg made it’s appearance. I wonder what was served at Bern’s last night?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:02:10 +0000

A little over 3,100 showed up last night. That’s down 1,100 from last years opener.

I would like to take this time to thank the Tampa Bay Times for not publishing a single article, in the actual paper or even just on the website, between January 10 until April 6. Compared to last year when every roster move and preseason game was in the paper. In fact, we even had a special section every Thursday about the team in the sports section.

Of course, being ignored by every other media outlet in the area I’m sure didn’t help either. Last year we even had TV interviews with players leading up to the home opener.

Unless of course Burt, Gyorio, and Millien each had 300 fans going just for them alone, in which case that would explain everything! But I doubt it…

By: Ivan

Ivan — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 21:08:01 +0000

Heading over to the Rowdies game in a bit. Hoping for a higher attendance this season, with the Rowdies name back in the picture. Anything in the 4K ballpark as average attendance would be fantastic. We will see.

COYR, Let’s put at least 2 past Edmonton tonight.

By: TAMPA RAY

TAMPA RAY — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:59:53 +0000

The stadium holds around 7,277 or so. .. And we’re expecting boosts in attendance from last year, which averaged just over 3k.

By: AmericanizeSoccer.com

AmericanizeSoccer.com — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:16:26 +0000

brian,
how many does stadium seat? also, what are they expecting in terms of attendance for game Saturday?

By: Strikers Return

Strikers Return — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:36:48 +0000

@BQ – You bet. Can’t wait for Saturday night! Go Strikers!!!

By: Brian Quarstad

Brian Quarstad — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:28:17 +0000

I’ll correct. Long story but site crashed just after I had noticed that error and corrected it. When it came back up I thought I had lost everything but I hadn’t but forgot about that change I had made. Thanks for the correction.

By: Strikers Return

Strikers Return — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:21:41 +0000

@BQ – It was Aly Hassan with the (totally undeserved) red last week, not Blake. It pains me as a Striker Liker to admit I’m a bit envious by everything the Rowdies have done at their stadium this year to improve the fan experience. They also seem to have spent some money advertising as well. The Strikers with their shoe string budget this year that harkens back to the Miami FC days could really have used some of these same things to keep the momentum they created last year, moving forward.